current Events/2021 August 16

• War in Afghanistan
  • Taliban insurgency
    • 2021 Taliban offensive
      • Fall of Kabul
        • Russia accuses President Ashraf Ghani of fleeing the country with "four cars and a helicopter full of cash" and that he also left money behind that could not be transported with him. Ghani's whereabouts are still unknown although multiple sources say that he is currently in Tajikistan. (Reuters)
        • The first Afghan President after the 2001 United States invasion, Hamid Karzai, announces that he and his daughters will remain in Kabul as he appeals to the Taliban to respect his life and the lives of civilians in Afghanistan. (Indiatimes)
        • Saudi Arabia calls on the Taliban and "all Afghan parties" to "preserve lives and property" and also states that "Saudi Arabia stands with the decision of the Afghan people without interference". (Reuters)
        • The Taliban sets up a cordon and blocks access to Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport and also fires warning shots as civilians attempt to leave the country. (Al Jazeera)
        • Kyrgyzstan says 500 visas will be issued to students from Afghanistan. (AKIpress News Agency)
  • Withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan
    • U.S. troops shoot dead two "armed men" at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport as evacuations of Western diplomats and allied Afghans continue. (The Wall Street Journal)
    • Two people are recorded falling to their deaths from a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III flying over the airport. Local reports say that the stowaways landed on nearby rooftops. In a separate incident, three civilians are run over and killed while clinging to a U.S. jet on the runway. (NDTV)
    • U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the nation following his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. In the address, Biden said that he "stands squarely behind" the decision to withdraw from the country and admits that the government's collapse was "quicker than anticipated". (The Independent) (USA Today)
  • Operation Pitting
    • The United Kingdom deploys an additional 200 troops to Kabul to help airlift UK nationals and Afghans who worked with British forces during the war. (BBC News)
  • Uzbekistan shoots down an Afghan Air Force jet that crossed into its airspace. The pilot ejected and survived, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense. (Reuters)
• Insurgency in the Maghreb
  • 2021 Niger attacks
    • Gunmen on motorbikes storm the village of Darey-Daye, Niger, openinf fire against civilians while they were tending their fields, killing 37 people, including fourteen children. (Al Jazeera)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Four Palestinians are killed and another is seriously injured after an undercover branch of the Israel Border Police raided a refugee camp in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The raid, which was organized to arrest a suspected Hamas member, resulted in the highest death toll in the area in months. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• 2021 Haiti earthquake
  • The death toll from the earthquake that struck Haiti two days ago increases to 1,297 people. More than 5,700 others are injured. (BBC News)
  • Tropical Storm Grace threatens earthquake-hit Haiti as it approaches the island of Hispaniola with sustained winds of 35 mph (56 km/h), and even stronger gusts. (CNN International)
• Wildfires in 2021
  • Around one thousand people are evacuated in Castile and León, Spain, as a wildfire spreads across the region. (Reuters)
• 2020–22 North American drought
  • The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issues an official water shortage declaration at the Lake Mead reservoir for the first time. The shortage will mean reduced water apportionments to Arizona, Nevada and Mexico beginning in October. (Reuters)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh
      • Bangladesh reports its first case of the SARS-CoV-2 Lambda variant in the sample of a 49-year-old woman in Dhaka. (Dhaka Tribune)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
      • Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
        • Hong Kong reclassifies 15 countries and territories, including the U.S., France, Malaysia, and Thailand, to the "high-risk" category, which means that beginning on August 20, there will be mandatory 21-day quarantines and tougher boarding requirements for travellers arriving from those countries due to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta variant. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
      • Iran reports a record 655 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 98,483. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, COVID-19 vaccination in Israel
      • The number of people over the age of 50 who have received a booster COVID-19 vaccine dose in Israel reaches one million. (The Times of Israel)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
      • Malaysian movement control order
        • The Government of Malaysia begins to allow 11 more economic sectors in states under Phase 1 of the national recovery plan to reopen. Operators of businesses in these sectors must ensure that their customers show a digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate before entering the business. (Free Malaysia Today)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in France
      • France requires shoppers to show their "health pass" in order to enter 126 shopping centres that have a size of more than 20,000 m² (220,000 sq ft) in Paris and 12 departments that reached a threshold of 200 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people. (Radio France Internationale)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, COVID-19 vaccination in Germany
      • The German Standing Committee on Vaccination recommends that all children between the ages of 12 and 17 receive a COVID-19 vaccine due to increased risks posed by the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. (The Tribune)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in North Macedonia
      • North Macedonia restricts the access of cafés, restaurants and public events to only those who have been vaccinated with at least one dose or who have recovered from COVID-19 within the past 45 days and also limits the capacity of restaurants to 30 people with only outdoor parts of restaurants to be open in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 cases. (U.S. News & World Report)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • COVID-19 pandemic in England, COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland
        • A requirement for fully vaccinated people and people under the age of 18 to self-isolate is removed in England and Northern Ireland if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus. These people are now advised to take a PCR test despite such tests being voluntary and also wear a face covering while in enclosed spaces. (BBC News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Northern Territory, COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria
      • Greater Darwin and Katherine enter a three-day lockdown after new community transmissions of COVID-19 were reported. Meanwhile, lockdown restrictions in Melbourne are extended and tightened for an additional two weeks, with a controversial nighttime curfew reinstated. (The Australian) (ABC News Australia)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)
      • Outgoing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announces that healthcare workers in the state will be required to be vaccinated by September 27. (WIVB-TV)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C.
      • Washington, D.C. announces that they will require healthcare workers and other health-related professionals to be vaccinated with at least a first dose of the Pfizer–BioNTech or Moderna vaccine or a single-dose Janssen vaccine by September 30. (The Hill)
• Ivory Coast begins to vaccinate "healthcare workers, close relatives and contacts of the victim" against Ebola using 5,000 doses of Ebola vaccines donated by Guinea after the first case of the virus since 1994 was reported over the weekend. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• The Speaker of the Tongan Parliament, Lord Fakafanua, introduces the Illicit Drugs Control (Amendment) Bill 2021 for debate in the legislative assembly. The Speaker wants a mandatory death sentence for serious drug offenses. Tonga has a moratorium on the death penalty and has not used it in more than four decades. (RNZ International)
• The last living Khmer Rouge leader, Khieu Samphan, appears before a court in Phnom Penh in order to appeal his conviction and attempt to overturn it. The 90-year-old's hearing is expected to last for only a few days as analysts say that it is very unlikely that he will succeed in his appeal. (Deutsche Welle)
• In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Uganda strikes down a 2014 law outlawing the distribution of pornography and wearing of "indecent" clothes as unconstitutional. Women's rights groups in the country campaigned against the law since its inception, saying it unfairly singled out women for discrimination. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• 2020–21 Malaysian political crisis
  • Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin resigns from office, as a result of the ruling Perikatan Nasional coalition government's collapse. Yassin will remain as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed. (CNA)
• COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka, Political impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • President Gotabaya Rajapaksa replaces his health minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi with Keheliya Rambukwella, who was previously the media minister and government spokesman, with Wanniarachchi becoming the transport minister, amid public criticism over her understating of COVID-19 infections and her endorsement of sorcery and magic potions to combat the virus. (Al Jazeera)

Sports

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
  • 2020 Summer Paralympics
    • The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the International Paralympic Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and the Japanese government issue a joint statement indicating that spectators will be banned at Paralympic venues in Tokyo and other prefectures that are currently under a state of emergency due to the spread of COVID-19. (The Washington Post) (France 24)